University-educated women in Singapore have fewer children, marry less

Singaporeans are marrying later and having fewer children than five years ago, with university-educated women the least likely to marry and to have larger families, according to a government survey.

The survey, published by the Singapore Department of Statistics June 30, also documented shifts in home language and educational attainment across the city-state.

Singlehood rose among residents aged below 40 compared with 2020. The share of unmarried women aged 25 to 29 climbed from 69% to 73.4%, while among men the sharpest increase came in the 30 to 34 group, rising from 41.9% to 47.6%.

Among those in their 40s, men with lower educational attainment were more likely to remain single. Women aged 30 to 49 with a university degree or higher, by contrast, recorded a higher rate of never having married than peers in other educational groups.

Despite the rising proportion of single adults, the traditional family of a married couple and their children remained the most common household type, accounting for 47.6% of resident households. That was down from 50.4% in 2020.

The survey also reflected a continuing trend toward smaller families. The average number of children born to ever-married women aged 40 to 49 fell from 1.76 in 2020 to 1.67 in 2025. The proportion of women with two or more children declined from 62.5% to 58.4%.

Women with higher levels of education tended to have fewer children. Those holding a university degree had an average of 1.59 children, compared with 1.84 among women with secondary education or below.

English remained the most commonly spoken language at home. 58.1% of residents aged five and above reported using it most frequently at home, a sharp increase from 48.3% in 2020.

The General Household Survey 2025 covered 27,324 households and achieved a response rate of 86.8%. It forms part of Singapore's Comprehensive Labor Force and Household Survey Programme.